New local improv group debuts

Let the ‘Theatresports’ games begin.

Improvisational comedy isn’t easy to perform; it takes a quick, comedic mind to take a suggestion and go with it. Done right by a tight group, however, it can be a hoot.

Four local men who are billing themselves ImprovLittleRock and who have been doing improvisational comedy games for fun for the last eight months are bringing their show to the stage — The Public Theatre at 616 Center St. — for shows on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 18-19. In an effort to get the younger, late-partying crowd, both shows begin at 10:30 p.m. Admission is $5 at the door.

Josh Rice, A.J. Spiridigliozzi, Don Rush and Matt DeCample make up ImprovLittleRock. All are transplants from various places around the country who found a common bond in comedy improv. Rice, Spiridigliozzi and Rush have local theater experience and either worked for or acted at the Arkansas Arts Center. DeCample has worked in local television and is now with the attorney general’s office.

Buddy Habig, who plays regular piano gigs at the Easy Street Piano Bar, provides the musical accompaniment, becoming part of the improv games himself.

After several of the performers returned home earlier this year after doing summer stock or other work, they auditioned to land their performing spot at the Public Theatre. They are calling the first show “Theatresports.”

You’ll have to trust me on this, since I was one of three people to watch a recent “rehearsal” -– well, you don’t really “rehearse” improv; they took some ideas and ran with them — but the skits these guys pull off are really funny. They have an assortment of improv games they play, taking suggestions from the audience and performing a skit. One twosome tries to outdo the other twosome in skits that are scored by one judge.

It’s a little like Drew Carey’s “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” but expect the performance to be a little edgier.

M.L. King Day: The open lines and a roundup of headlines and comment.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson has made several public appearances today as part of the observance of King Day and his remarks have included lauding the state's 2017 action (and his own) in ending the dual observance of King's birthday with that of a man who fought to preserve slavery, Robert E. Lee. I have one brief observation on his remarks:

While the North Carolina duo's work is music to chill by, there were no sleepers.

A dozen years or so separated visits to the Timberwood Amphitheater for me and my son. But one thought was the same, and at the same time reminded me that a dozen years of watching your kid grow up flies by like a flash. That thought: Man, I wish Little Rock had an outdoor music site like this.